565 research outputs found
Introducing the Green Protein Footprint method as an understandable measure of the environmental cost of anchovy consumption
In a global framework of growing concern for food security and environmental protection, the selection of food products with higher protein content and lower environmental impact is a challenge. To assess the reliability of different strategies along the food supply chain, a measure of food cost through the environmental impact-protein content binomial is necessary. This study proposes a standardized method to calculate the Green Protein Footprint (GPF) index, a method that assesses both the environmental impact of a food product and its protein content provided to consumers. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) was used to calculate the environmental impact of the selected food products, and a Life Cycle Protein Assessment (LCPA) was performed by accounting for the protein content along the supply chain. Although the GPF can be applied to all food chain products, this paper is focused on European anchovy-based products for indirect human consumption (fishmeal) and for direct human consumption (fresh, salted and canned anchovies). Moreover, the circular economy concept was applied considering the valorization of the anchovy residues generated during the canning process. These residues were used to produce fishmeal, which was employed in bass aquaculture. Hence, humans are finally consuming fish protein from the residues, closing the loop of the original product life cycle. More elaborated, multi-ingredient food products (salted and canned anchovy products), presented higher GPF values due to higher environmental impacts. Furthermore, the increase of food loss throughout their life cycle caused a decrease in the protein content. Regarding salted and canned products, the packaging was the main hotspot. The influence of the packaging was evaluated using the GPF, reaffirming that plastic was the best alternative. These results highlighted the importance of improving packaging materials in food products.The authors thank the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness of the Spanish Government for their financial support via the projects GeSAC-Conserva: Sustainable Management of the Cantabrian Anchovies (CTM2013-43539-R) and CERES_Project: Food Production strategies for climate change mitigation: towards a food circular economy (CTM 2016-76176-C2-1-R). Authors thank Julia Celaya for her technical support. Jara Laso thanks the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness of Spanish Government for their financial support via the research fellowship BES-2014-069368
A scalable analytical framework for spatio-temporal analysis of neighborhood change: A sequence analysis approach
Š Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020. Spatio-temporal changes reflect the complexity and evolution of demographic and socio-economic processes. Changes in the spatial distribution of population and consumer demand at urban and rural areas are expected to trigger changes in future housing and infrastructure needs. This paper presents a scalable analytical framework for understanding spatio-temporal population change, using a sequence analysis approach. This paper uses gridded cell Census data for Great Britain from 1971 to 2011 with 10-year intervals, creating neighborhood typologies for each Census year. These typologies are then used to analyze transitions of grid cells between different types of neighborhoods and define representative trajectories of neighborhood change. The results reveal seven prevalent trajectories of neighborhood change across Great Britain, identifying neighborhoods which have experienced stable, upward and downward pathways through the national socioeconomic hierarchy over the last four decades
An evaluation of strategies used by the Landscapes and Policy Hub to achieve interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research
The report presents an evaluation of the Landscapes and Policy Hub's approach to interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research. The hub was a national, four year, $15 million collaborative research program. The focus of the evaluation was for researchers to reflect on the effectiveness of strategies used by the hub to facilitate interdisciplinarity (where researchers from different disciplines work together to solve problems) and transdisciplinarity (where researchers from different disciplines work in partnership with research users to solve problems).
The evaluation was commissioned in the final phase of the hubâs life in the interests of improving performance of future interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research. It was based on a number of strategies that had been implemented by the hub to encourage and facilitate interdisciplinary research occurring in partnership with research users. The aim of the evaluation was to improve performance of future interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research. Six recommendations are presented
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The Next Big Match: Convergence, Competition and Sports Media Rights
Using examples from a number of different European countries, this article analyses the increasingly prominent position of traditional telecommunications companies, such as British Telecom (UK), Deutsche Telekom (Germany), France Telecom/Orange (France) and Telefonica (Spain), in the contemporary sports media rights market. The first part of the article examines the commercial strategies of telecommunications operators and highlights how their acquisition of sports rights has been driven by the need to ensure a competitive position within an increasingly converged communications market. The second part of the article then moves on to consider the regulation of the sports media rights market. Most significantly, this section emphasises the need for further regulatory intervention to ensure that increased competition for sports rights leads to improved services and lower prices for consumers, rather than merely endlessly spiralling fees for the exclusive ownership of premium rights that are then passed on to sports channel and/or broadband subscribers
Revisiting special relativity: A natural algebraic alternative to Minkowski spacetime
Minkowski famously introduced the concept of a space-time continuum in 1908,
merging the three dimensions of space with an imaginary time dimension , with the unit imaginary producing the correct spacetime distance , and the results of Einstein's then recently developed theory of special
relativity, thus providing an explanation for Einstein's theory in terms of the
structure of space and time. As an alternative to a planar Minkowski space-time
of two space dimensions and one time dimension, we replace the unit imaginary , with the Clifford bivector for the plane
that also squares to minus one, but which can be included without the addition
of an extra dimension, as it is an integral part of the real Cartesian plane
with the orthonormal basis and . We find that with this model of
planar spacetime, using a two-dimensional Clifford multivector, the spacetime
metric and the Lorentz transformations follow immediately as properties of the
algebra. This also leads to momentum and energy being represented as components
of a multivector and we give a new efficient derivation of Compton's scattering
formula, and a simple formulation of Dirac's and Maxwell's equations. Based on
the mathematical structure of the multivector, we produce a semi-classical
model of massive particles, which can then be viewed as the origin of the
Minkowski spacetime structure and thus a deeper explanation for relativistic
effects. We also find a new perspective on the nature of time, which is now
given a precise mathematical definition as the bivector of the plane.Comment: 29 pages, 2 figure
Hierarchy measure for complex networks
Nature, technology and society are full of complexity arising from the
intricate web of the interactions among the units of the related systems (e.g.,
proteins, computers, people). Consequently, one of the most successful recent
approaches to capturing the fundamental features of the structure and dynamics
of complex systems has been the investigation of the networks associated with
the above units (nodes) together with their relations (edges). Most complex
systems have an inherently hierarchical organization and, correspondingly, the
networks behind them also exhibit hierarchical features. Indeed, several papers
have been devoted to describing this essential aspect of networks, however,
without resulting in a widely accepted, converging concept concerning the
quantitative characterization of the level of their hierarchy. Here we develop
an approach and propose a quantity (measure) which is simple enough to be
widely applicable, reveals a number of universal features of the organization
of real-world networks and, as we demonstrate, is capable of capturing the
essential features of the structure and the degree of hierarchy in a complex
network. The measure we introduce is based on a generalization of the m-reach
centrality, which we first extend to directed/partially directed graphs. Then,
we define the global reaching centrality (GRC), which is the difference between
the maximum and the average value of the generalized reach centralities over
the network. We investigate the behavior of the GRC considering both a
synthetic model with an adjustable level of hierarchy and real networks.
Results for real networks show that our hierarchy measure is related to the
controllability of the given system. We also propose a visualization procedure
for large complex networks that can be used to obtain an overall qualitative
picture about the nature of their hierarchical structure.Comment: 29 pages, 9 figures, 4 table
A survey on knowledge and self-reported formula handling practices of parents and child care workers in Palermo, Italy
Powdered infant formula (PIF) is not a sterile product, but this information appears to be poorly diffused among child caregivers. Parents and child care workers may behave in an unsafe manner when handling PIF. Methods: This study involved parents and child care workers in the 24 municipal child care centres of Palermo. Knowledge and self-reported practices about PIF handling were investigated by a structured questionnaire. A Likert scale was used to measure the strength of the respondent's feelings. Association of knowledge and self-reported practices with demographic variables was also evaluated. Results: 42.4% of parents and 71.0% of child care workers filled in the questionnaire. Significant differences were found between parents and child care workers for age and education. 73.2% of parents and 84.4% of child care workers were confident in sterility of PIF. Generally, adherence to safe procedures when reconstituting and handling PIF was more frequently reported by child care workers who, according to the existing legislation, are regularly subjected to a periodic training on food safety principles and practices. Age and education significantly influenced the answers to the questionnaire of both parents and child care workers. Conclusion: The results of the study reveal that parents and child care workers are generally unaware that powdered formulas may contain viable microorganisms. However, child care workers consistently chose safer options than parents when answering the questions about adherence to hygienic practices. At present it seems unfeasible to produce sterile PIF, but the risk of growth of hazardous organisms in formula at the time of administration should be minimized by promoting safer behaviours among caregivers to infants in both institutional settings and home. \ua9 2009 Calamusa et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd
Ventricular volume expansion in presymptomatic genetic frontotemporal dementia
OBJECTIVE: To characterize the time course of ventricular volume expansion in genetic frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and identify the onset time and rates of ventricular expansion in presymptomatic FTD mutation carriers. METHODS: Participants included patients with a mutation in MAPT, PGRN, or C9orf72, or first-degree relatives of mutation carriers from the GENFI study with MRI scans at study baseline and at 1 year follow-up. Ventricular volumes were obtained from MRI scans using FreeSurfer, with manual editing of segmentation and comparison to fully automated segmentation to establish reliability. Linear mixed models were used to identify differences in ventricular volume and in expansion rates as a function of time to expected disease onset between presymptomatic carriers and noncarriers. RESULTS: A total of 123 participants met the inclusion criteria and were included in the analysis (18 symptomatic carriers, 46 presymptomatic mutation carriers, and 56 noncarriers). Ventricular volume differences were observed 4 years prior to symptom disease onset for presymptomatic carriers compared to noncarriers. Annualized rates of ventricular volume expansion were greater in presymptomatic carriers relative to noncarriers. Importantly, time-intensive manually edited and fully automated ventricular volume resulted in similar findings. CONCLUSIONS: Ventricular volume differences are detectable in presymptomatic genetic FTD. Concordance of results from time-intensive manual editing and fully automatic segmentation approaches support its value as a measure of disease onset and progression in future studies in both presymptomatic and symptomatic genetic FTD
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